Reporting
6 min read
Why your monthly report is not helping
A monthly pack of forty charts tells you what happened. It rarely tells you what to do. Here is how to cut it to one page.
Priya Nair
Partner, finance
We are often shown the monthly report with some pride. It is thorough, and nobody reads it.
Start with the decision
List the five decisions the leadership team makes in a normal month. Each number in the report should help make one of them. Anything else goes.
Show change, not totals
A total is a fact. A change against last month and against the plan is a question, and questions get discussed.
One page, one owner
Give the page to a single person who will defend every line. When it belongs to everyone, it belongs to no one.
The Aldermere Letter
One essay a month, short enough to read on the train.
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A monthly pack of forty charts tells you what happened. It rarely tells you what to do. Here is how to cut it to one page.
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